Raphael Adjani - Mindfulness, Wellbeing & Therapy

I wish happiness, wellbeing, and fulfilment to you and all beings in the New Year of 2019.
While I am not a Buddhist, this quotation of The Dalai Lama, reminds me that when I focus on Love in its most profound sense, I create the best possible life for myself and all beings around me.
I thank my Bro John Akayzar for helping me to understand this better.
... Thank You to Sam Wells for sharing this quotation with me.
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THE DELIGHTS OF SMALL THINGS
The poem below - contained in Christopher Germer's 'The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions', which I am currently re-reading - ... succinctly and exquisitely reminds me of the delights of living mindful of small things immediately around us, moment by moment:
'Mindful'
Everyday I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light. It was what I was born for — to look, to listen, to lose myself inside this soft world — to instruct myself over and over in joy, and acclamation. Nor am I talking about the exceptional, the fearful, the dreadful, the very extravagant — but of the ordinary, the common, the very drab, the daily presentations. Oh, good scholar, I say to myself, how can you help but grow wise with such teachings as these — the untrimmable light of the world, the ocean’s shine, the prayers that are made out of grass?
- Mary Oliver
Image: A rainy night in Shoreditch, London Image from Phone by Raphael Adjani
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Merry Christmas I wish peace, wellbeing, and freedom from suffering to you and all beings.
Even on special days, like Christmas, we may feel pain. I am sorry if this is the case for you today.
... Please remember, as is taught in Mindfulness, our painful thoughts and feelings are real and need to be acknowledged, but they are not necessarily facts set in stone, and can pass like clouds in the sky, and we do not necessarily have to suffer from them.
This idea is exquisitely expressed in the poem below shared by my friend Caron Isabel Jones:
THE JOY OF SORROW
It's simple. When you're sad, just feel sad. Don't try to be happy. Trying is exhausting. Don't push your sadness away. Don't numb it. Don't try to get over it. Don't try to transform it. Don't even try to 'heal' it.
You don't even need to accept it. Realise that it's already accepted. There is already enough room for sadness in the hugeness of your being. You are the sky, the sadness is only passing weather. You are vast; sadness is temporary. You are eternal; sadness longs for a home.
It's simple. When you are sad, just feel sad.
Bow to your sadness. Honour it. Let it rest, and move. And you will know its holiness.
Its aliveness. Its joy.
- Jeff Foster
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A simple smile can affect your mental health.

SELF COMPASSION, SELF LOVE I am currently co-facilitating a closed therapeutic group on Managing Anger and Difficult Emotions (MADE): rooted in Compassion-Focused Therapy.
It is part of my counselling placement with Mind in the City Hackney and Waltham Forest in London, UK.
... In the first session, my co-facilitator discussed not just the importance of self-compassion but also of self-love.
Self-love is “a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological, and spiritual growth” (Khoshaba, 2012). It is about valuing yourself as a human being who is worthy of love and respect.
Self-Love is for me the most important daily focus. From this develops my love and care of others.
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THE SIGNIFICANT IMPORTANCE OF SELF-LOVE AND SELF-COMPASSION IN GOOD MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING

LISTEN TO YOUR TRUTH AND FOLLOW YOUR OWN PATH
Today I co-taught the first class of a new Mindfulness 8-week course. We shared the poem below, "The Journey", which reminds me of staying true to one's self:
The Journey
... 'One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice – the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. “Mend my life!” each voice cried. But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had to do, Though the wind pried its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do – determined to save the only life you could save.'
- Mary Oliver
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LOVING ME LOVING YOU
Today I feel excited as I start to teach a new 8 week Mindfulness course.
As well as supporting others deal better with the challenges of Life, and find more richness in Life’s journey, it nourishes me in my own journey.

Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) 8-week course
Facilitated by Raphael Adjani and Jacqui Henry
...Continue Reading

As I prepare to co-facilitate another Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) 8-week course, alongside a period of ill-health, I find this short talk by MBSR founder Jon Kabat-Zinn on the attitudinal foundations of Mindfulness so useful.
https://youtu.be/2n7FOBFMvXg

WHAT ARE MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS This short animation, from UK mental health charity MIND, gives a valuable introduction.
https://youtu.be/AUWhdmKyOE8

WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 10 October 2018
The WHO World Health Organisation states that ‘Half of all mental illness begins by the age of 14 but most cases go undetected and untreated.’
... As I am currently working as a placement counsellor undertaking play therapy in a school working with 6-11 years olds, I see the impact and value of working with children who have such challenges at an early age.
I also think there is value in teaching all children life skills such as but not exclusive to Mindfulness. This could have a profound impact on mental health throughout life and consequently an impact on Society as a whole.
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Hello All I am co-teaching a Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) 8-week course.
... Mindfulness is an scientifically evidenced to help manage stress. It can help us manage better some of the challenges of our hectic modern lives and find greater fulfilment in life.
The course is from Monday 22 October to Monday 10 December, 1.45-4.00pm (8 sessions) Plus Saturday 1 December, 10.00am-4.00pm at Shoreditch Healthy Living Centre 170 Pitfield Street, Shoreditch, London, N1 6JP
The course is heavily subsidised and costs only £50.
There are a few places only still left. If you could like to signup, or know someone who would be interested, get in touch.
Details on the jpeg
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This poem, by Nayyirah Waheed, speaks to me strongly today. In her short poem, she reminds me so strongly how to approach each moment.
What in Mindfulness is call "The Being Mode" as opposed to "The Doing Mode".
Moment by moment, in your own sweet time, come home.

THE PLEASURE OF SHARING
Today I had great pleasure in sharing both the practice of Mindfulness and the concepts underlying it, with three people who came to a mindfulness session for the first time at a Mindfulness lunchtime drop-in session at Shoreditch Healthy Living Centre, London.
When I saw the experience of Mindfulness light someone’s life I felt such delight.

A Moment of being Moved: Today I received My Breathworks accreditation: formally certifying me to teach courses in "Mindfulness for Stress" and "Mindfulness for Health".
The mindfulness accreditation is more than a qualification: it symbolises transcendence of some life challenges, and a different way of living.
I would like to thank my supervisors, teachers, Breathworks administrators, peer teachers-in-training, friends, supporters, and my course participants who helped mak...e this happen, accompanying me and encouraging me on various parts of the journey, including:
Colette Power Singhashri Kica Gazmuri Karen Hall Mokshajyoti Stephens Sarasuvanna Ginny Wall Vidyamala Prue Burch Gustav Svensson Patrícia Alexandra Costa Dias Dri Marie Laura Smith Anne Brothier Arntson Jane Belshaw Miia Chambers Shane Collings Maria Iliopoulou Stephanie Monteilh Shoreditch Trust Healthy Living Centre Cathy Barton-Sweeney Osita Okagbue Toshio Watanabe Be C Yarowng John Akayzar
This journey began long before the formal training. It continues now moment by moment...
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Poetry is a valuable component in helping our understanding of Mindfulness principles. This poem inspired me today:
‘You have traveled too fast over false ground; Now your soul has come to take you back.
... Take refuge in your senses, open up To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain When it falls slow and free.
Imitate the habit of twilight, Taking time to open the well of color That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone Until its calmness can claim you'.
- John O'Donohue Via Tara Dunphy
It reminds me to enjoy fully what each moment has to offer me, rather than living a life primarily of doing, doing, doing.
Image by Raphael Adjani
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Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt - blessed illusion! - there was a beehive in my heart. And the golden bees... were making white wax and sweet honey from my old bitterness. - António Machado
Today I begin a 7 day silent retreat on the theme of Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living (MBCL)
This poem inspires me for the week to use compassion - towards myself and others - to turn my bitterness into so sweet honey.
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